Otto Palmer on Rudolf Steiner’s The Philosophy of Freedom

AN ONLINE PRESENTATION BY NEILL REILLY

“I asked Rudolf Steiner: ‘What will remain of your work thousands of years from now?’ He replied: ‘Nothing but The Philosophy of Freedom. But in it everything else is contained. If one realizes the act of freedom described there, one can discover the whole content of Anthroposophy.’
– From a conversation between Rudolf Steiner and Walter Johannes Stein (Den Haag, April 1922)

In an excerpt from Otto Palmer’s Epilogue in Rudolf Steiner on his book, The Philosophy of Freedom, Palmer recalls:

“New Year’s Day 1919 stands out in my memory as a never-to-be-forgotten date. At the time, I was one of a group of prisoners housed in the barracks of the French Alpine Chasseurs at Albertville, Savoy, near Conflans, the confluence of the lsere and the Arly. Despite the fact that it was a holiday, mail was distributed. Mine brought me a copy of The Philosophy of Freedom. That was the fulfillment of a burning wish. I had been on leave in Hamburg half a year earlier-it must have been in June or July 1918-and was introduced there to Rudolf Steiner by my mother. Not long afterwards I was taken prisoner. One of the first letters I was permitted to write was to Dr. Steiner, asking for a copy of The Philosophy of Freedom. I did not know at the time that the second edition of the book was just appearing. Now it lay before me like a gift from heaven.“

“That was the start of a study that has never known an interruption and will never end as long as I live. Such modest fruits of study as I have been able to garner in forty-five years of work on this book have found literary expression in several small publications. The idea of collecting perhaps not all, but at least the most important comments Steiner made in the course of time about The Philosophy of Freedom had long occupied me, but it shared the fate of a good many ideas in that nothing was done about it. Only now has sufficient leisure come my way to bring this long-cherished plan to fulfillment.“

Neill Reilly was born and raised on Long Island, NY. He was graduated from Bowdoin College with a B.A. in Philosophy. He was also graduated from The Waldorf Institute at Adelphi University with an M.A. in Waldorf Pedagogy. Neill taught High School English for seven years at two Waldorf Schools and a Catholic school. He coached Basketball, Track, and Lacrosse. He also directed plays. After teaching, he worked as a salesperson at Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and Jefferies and Company; and at numerous financial technology firms.

Neill has written three books: Songs and Dreams, Look at What We Can Become, and The Marian Way of Heart Knowledge From Mary through St. John’s Gospel to Rudolf Steiner’s Philosophy of Freedom. The second includes a portrait of Prof. Fritz Koelln and four other Michaelic individuals. His essays and poems have appeared in Being More Consciously Human, the Bowdoin Alumni Magazine and other publications.

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